I smoked a bunch of nice cigars this week, starting off with my traditional Father’s Day Esperanza para los Niños which smoked very well for a 17-year-old cigar, and still had a nice, rich flavor. I followed that with an Aging Room Maduro, another great smoke with a great flavor. Both were up my alley, and hit the spot.  There was also another La Gran Llave torpedo from Michael Argenti’s newest venture, which was also a great smoke. Yet another wonderful cigar out o f the AJ Fernandez Factory. On anpther note, my wife ordered me a box of Sam Leccia‘s new cigar, Desnudo, which I’m excited to try (and she wants the box!). I have mixed feelings about the upcoming trade show. Everyone is going to be releasing new cigars to meet the August 8th FDA deadline. Considering that cigars in the last 10 years have been the best that they’ve ever been, how many of the hundreds of new cigars that are going to be released aren’t going to be ready? Another aspect in my mind is how are retailers going to be expected to buy all these new brands with shelves that are already full? It’s all deeply troubling and depressing. Anyway, on to more positive things…
Thursday night I had the privilege to be invited to a lounge event at The Wooden Indian cigar shop. My old buddy Steve Saka of Dunbarton Tobacco & Trust was there to talk for a solid three hours on everything tobacco. He covered 10,000 years of tobacco history, how cigars are made, the economics of cigars and how our government is going to goof if up. Always a great story-teller too. I took my old friend Scott along with me, and his mind was sufficiently blown I think, and I learned a great deal from the talk. I also bought a bunch more Sobremesas, 
smoked a Torpedo Tiempo and an El Americano over the course of the evening, and even got my hands on the new Short Churchill size (4¾”x48). Of course, the cigars were perfect, the Torpedo, despite Steve saying it was his least favorite size, had an interesting sweetness that I haven’t found in the other sizes. I can’t wait to try the new Mi Querida, with a broadleaf wrapper. I could have gotten one if I had bought a box of Sobremesa, and Dave, the proprietor of the Wooden Indian, smoked one and seemed to be quite impressed (judging by the tiny 
nub he begrudgingly dropped in the ashtray. It’s always a treat to see Steve, and I had a great time hanging out with Scott and smoking some great cigars. Â Just for fun, I scrounged up a picture of Steve from a cigar event in 1997. Pardon the quality, but back then you had to scan printed pictures to get them on to the web, it wasn’t as easy as whipping out your phone.
Friday I wrapped up another week with a cigar I had been anticipating for quite a while. I purchased a Tabaquro toro at a visit to Jacoub’s Cigar & Tobacco Outlet in Ridley Park, PA a few months ago. I had been wanting to try the cigar, blended by Hamlet Paredes, a rather well-known Cuban cigar maker, who made this cigar with Rocky Patel. I think this is my new favorite cigar from the Rocky Patel stable, following the Super Ligero line. This cigar features a San Andrés wrapper, a double binder of Brazilian and Mexican leaf, and Nicaraguan fillers. It’s rumored that Hamlet never touched anything but Cuban tobacco before working with Rocky, but he really came up with a great cigar. It’s got a bit of kick to it, a pleasing mix of sweet and savory, and provided a satisfying smoking experience  from start to finish. All I can say is “yum”. I liked the Tabaquero a lot.
Yesterday after enjoying a Leccia Luchador El Hombre (one of my favorite cigars) at Delaware Park while watching the horses (we came out ahead!), I came home to enjoy a BG Meyer Gigantes 56×6 on the porch. It was a beautiful day, watched the ponies with our grand-daughters, saw the Budweiser Clydesdales, managed to get some things done around the house, and kicked back with this cigar. I would have sworn this was a 6×60, it had a large feel to it, but maybe just the name “Gigantes” influenced my judgement. This one was 6″ x 56, with a Habano wrapper, Brazilian binder and Nicaraguan and Dominican filers. As seems to be the case with Davidoff’s Honduran brands, it’s hard to find a website with all the info. I did find some info on the Davidoff of Geneva retail page, and was surprised to see typos in the product description.  I can’t understand why they don’t have BGMeyerCigars.com, or something, and have the same gripe when I go looking for Room 101 info (and probably Cusano if I looked, which I haven’t). Anyway, the cigar is good. It’s got some pepper, some coffee/cocoa and sweetness, very much in my wheelhouse. I dug it.
There’s probably something I’m forgetting, but I’ll wrap this up now. I have an article to write for Prime Living Magazine that I have to smoke some great cigars for, so I better get busy with that! Â Until the next time,
CigarCraig
cigar on Monday for a few reasons. First, 2 Guys Cigars released the second (and probably last) round of the Mi Querida Firecrackers for sale. These are great little cigars. The second reason was to celebrate Saka’s birthday, because he doesn’t celebrate it himself. He’s told me that he thinks celebrating birthdays is for ten year old girls, which explains the pink wrapping paper with the stuffed My Little Kitty on the present he gave me for my 50th birthday years ago. For the record, I have two years on him. If he’s anything like me, having a late August birthday is a bummer because it signals the end of summer, and I always get a little down this time of year. I don’t look forward to my birthday much either. Any way, I smoked the cigar, which is probably more of a unicorn than his Unicorn is, and I really enjoyed it. I doubt that it will become a reality, though, given the shortage of broadleaf, and my impression that the broadleaf wrapper seemed to dominate the smokiness that I think makes the Sin Compromiso Special. Not that my palate is worth anything, and this might be next year’s big release, what do I know? Anyway, I thought it was a brilliant cigar and it suited my tastes perfectly, but all I require is strong espresso notes and good quality tobacco and I’m a happy camper. This was a winner and I’ll likely never smoke another one like it! Happy Birthday Steve!
